_{"The first blood is the thinnest."
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The world rocked to and fro, shaken by the gathered players who so dedicated their lives to the skill of their craft. It was late evening, almost completely nighttime for the residents of Neo Miso. But to the devoted players of High Ground Online, the darkness under the cover of night meant little when there lay Dungeons to conquer and Bosses to decimate.

One such fight was occurring around the outskirts of the main city’s central hub, just past the schools and in one of Neo Miso’s most prevalent parks; Bunkuko District. Despite being as massive and illustrious of a city as it was, word traveled disturbingly fast in Neo Miso’s streets. And so, when rumor came of an elusive demon-like Unival appearing as a Raid Boss in the Bunkuko District, it was only natural that HGO players would flock on over.

Needless to say, the Boss was no pushover, giving the lucky and brave few who dared to challenge him more than they bargained for. Indeed, the park’s roads lit with an almost neon-like fire as digital debris and heralded destruction signified the Boss’ attacks. For the players of HGO, it could almost be acquainted to the end of days; or at least, the end of a good Raid. Sooner or later, all would fall before the blade. It was only a matter of time.

Until that happened however, those gathered would fight on and persist. Fate had brought together faces from the different Factions of the Colored Guild. Though as one might have expected, there was no sign of the Faction Leaders. It was probably for the best; the arrival of such high-ranked players would have no doubt discouraged the lower-levels to even show up. All the better for the eager Boss to heighten his attacks.

“Holy shit, it’s not looking good for our valiant raiders, folks! The Raid Boss just pulled out another Desperation Move and isn’t going down without a scratch!” The manic voice echoed from a small drone that hovered and zipped around the battlefield. Everyone knew the voice behind it, let alone the face displayed via a hologram. Psych Gudanko was well-known for covering live footage of player adventures and even now, a good majority of the game’s audience were tuning into her report as the Raid Boss was battled.

The drone skimmed and hovered, avoiding whatever attacks the Raid Boss threw at the mismatched party. All the same, it captured only the best angles and the most revealing of shots as its operator nearly slobbered over all the good footage she was capturing. And given the viewership number was rising by the moment, Psych Gudanko was ready to pass out in bliss. “Oh dear, oh dear, oh ho, whatever will our brave players do?!? Eheheeh~!” she panted against her mic, voice booming with the moving images livestreamed to the entire HGO world.

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"Your spirit shines bright. Yet by the light of the azure star, all is extinguished."

A shining blue light filled the streets as the creature raised his blade, the air above it tearing apart and spilling forth otherworldly energies through the battlefield. The players scrambled for what cover they could find, those who remained in the open being instantly killed by the deluge of raw unadulterated power. Almost half of the players on the battlefield lay dead, their digital bodies laying on the floor while the real people screamed and cursed about the unfairness of it all. Yet this was what they lived for in the end, this was the type of game HGO was. Cruel, unforgiving of mistakes, a single misstep leading to death. The players would throw themselves at this challenge again and again, learning from every mistake, optimizing every shot, coming together to claim the rewards this Beast would relinquish upon defeat. They would defeat this challenge, just as they had so many in the past.

But it would not be today.

Those who remained emerged from cover quickly, their cooldowns having reset and their guns reloaded, they began the opening salvo on the boss with renewed fury and zeal. The Champion stood tall at 73 percent of it's HP remaining, yet one could be fooled into thinking it had just spawned if you looked at it's physical appearance. Not even a scratch on it's pale skin and it's armor was unmarred, the Champion stood tall as it lowered its blade. It's single visible eye narrowed as it stood still, a recovery period as it recharged from using a Desperation Attack.

"Take this you Unival *******!!!" While the game's profanity filter automatically kicked in, the rage present on Saffron Star's face was more than enough to let everyone around her know she was pissed, especially since her entire squad save her had been completely wiped. The barrel of her Gatling Laser spun rapidly as she prepared to fire, taking direct aim at Champion as she pulled the trigger and braced herself for the recoil of her high level weapon. The Gatling Laser required an extremely high Strength to equip, but it was widely considered to be one of the best weapons in the game right now due to it's high rate of fire and immense ammo per clip, the only negative aspect of the weapon being its long "reload" time as the user swapped overheated batteries.

"You still stand. I applaud you, truly I do. But even the most resilient of pests is still nothing more. Than a pest."

And the Champion was back in action, slowly walking towards the current target of it's aggro as it swept it's blade through the air around it, spawning dozens of black and white drones to eliminate those who still stood. From what everyone had gathered so far, the drones needed to be eliminated in equal numbers, otherwise they would explode and inflict a status effect on everyone within the battlefield, the white ones had blinded everyone for five whole seconds and caused a mass wipe as the Champion did something to kill a dozen people at the same time.

"Squads 1 through 4, focus on the black drones! 5 through 8, focus on white! 9 and 10, keep the Champion's aggro spread, don't let his aggro get too high on anyone person!" The last time it got so focused on someone resulted in a beam of azure energy piercing the sky and instantly killing them. Then they exploded in a similar burst of azure light, knocking their entire squad into low health.

Their strategy wasn't the worst by any means, it was a tried and true method to gauge the bosses that had come before. But the Champion was fundamentally different in some way, by this point in a raid the boss should be at 50 percent and entering a second phase. There was a trick to this boss, something they just weren't getting. Some mechanic that they hadn't figured out, something they would need to change if they were going to take this boss down.

"Soooo.... What are you wearing?" Black Cat sat with his back against cover, his entire body veiled from the boss. He was currently staying in a bombed out postal office that was shy most of its walls. It was just at the edge of the park, literally as far you could be from the combat zone and still be allowed to use your AR gear in the fight. He kicked his feet idly as he asked a question.

"Level 2 Tactical Armor. Why is this important right now?" The sniper beside him had some sort of voice mod on making his voice growl out all serious like. He was a fellow member of the Cobalt Crusaders, and he let off another blast of energy out of his rifle, eyes still glued to his scope. If the shot's contact with the enemy resulted in damage, it was impossible to tell from how tiny a chip of it it must have done.

"Nah, not important. Just bored. Say, why is the postal office the best place for romance?" Black Cat rolled his head up to gaze at the sky for a moments, before starting a joke.

"I don't think this is the time." The sniper grimaced.

"Because of all the shipping!" Black Cat smiled widely.

"Dude maybe you should be paying attention to the fight." The sniper glanced down from his sights at Black Cat, the grimace growing ever grimmer.

"No need, my drone's got this handled." Black Cat shoved a thumb over the corner, pointing at his drone which was moving from squad to squad, at least the few that were still alive, during breaks in the fire, and charging everyone's weapons up.

"Don't you have to like guide it or something?" The sniper started looking back at the fight, picking off a drone that was straying a little too close for comfort.

"It's just programmed to bounce between the squads, and stay in cover unless there's a break in the enemy firing pattern. I'd just introduce human error."

"You've developed an algorithm that can detect the patterns in the enemy's attacks and you haven't shared it? You're a fucking asshole." The sniper's brow was fully furrowed at this point.

"Of course my asshole is for fucking. Surely you didn't think I dressed this way out of innocent naivety or a misguided attempt to distract my foes?" Black Cat nodded assertively, before cocking his head slightly and glancing meaningfully down below with exaggerated eyebrow gesturing. Then he stopped and shrugged, before admitting, "Buuuut also it works like, 40% of the time and the other 60% relies on him being a tiny target. You wouldn't want to stake your life on it. It basically boils down to 'If enemy do big parkwide attack pattern, he probably won't do it again in the next three seconds'." As he explained the algorithm, he animatedly demonstrated explosion and three second countdown with his hands, before tapping his head.

"Even if it's not that amazing you should still coopera-" *KAZORCH* The sniper's lifeless headless body tumbled to the ground, having spent just a bit too long with his head out of cover.

"Heh. Dude maybe you should have been paying attention to the fight." Black Cat couldn't help but snicker and mock the perished sniper, mimicking the earlier tone of the man.

"Jerk." Even muffled due to the AR interference, Black Cat could still sense and hear the real world sniper getting up and telling him off now that he was out of the fight.

"Don't lose your head- Ow!" One last parting gift earned the Black Cat a smack in the face before the dearly departed sniper did physically depart.

After a little bit of kicking his feet and keeping his butt planted firmly in cover, Black Cat was bored again, but luckily, he spotted someone. "Yoohoo! Fellow drone user eh? I've got a lovely piece of cover if you wanna talk while our drones do stuff." Black Cat waved at the other person who he figured was a drone user, before kicking the smoldering corpse still sharing his spot away. Black Cat didn't seem to have any reservations about the person being from a different Faction.

@Gardevoiran

"Come on, stop being so lame and get done with this boss already if you don't want us to kill steal it," Thea said to herself in an exasperated voice as she watched Gudanko's stream while listening to some super retro beats. The second in command of the Scourgers, along with a few other guild members, waited outside the Boss' perimeter, hoping that the other guilds would get done with their share of the pie so that she could literally kick the door and begin the main attraction of the night.

Thea totally expected the other guilds to know that she and the Scourgers were camping the Boss' area, after all, that was one of the most entertaining things to do as a PVP gamer, and it wouldn't be the first—nor would it be the last—time they did it. Even so, if the PVE players wanted anything of interest, they had to come here and fight the Boss, giving the Scourgers the perfect chance to massacre them afterwards. In her opinion it was a win-win scenario. Which is why they didn't even try to forbid anyone from getting in the combat zone. However, if they tried to get out, things weren't going to be the same.

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As the shockwave from the Desperation Attack dispersed, a deep purple sniper hiding amidst an abandoned construction site stepped out of his cover. Aiming directly at the Unival Champion he flicked on the matching colored laser on his rifle and smirked.

“Thanks for standing still, chump!” Royal Ranger said under his breath. The Champion was soon given a bright red highlight making him visible to everyone and indicating he was now an Acquired Target. "He’s marked! Light him up!" Royal yelled as he and everyone available opened fire. This boss had given them a hell of a time, but at this moment they had him dead to rights. At least, that’s what the Crusader Marksman though. Yet even with the increase in damage The Champion still remained around 70% health. They weren’t even able to focus on him for long as he soon released another wave of drones to harass them. All the while their numbers continued to drop drastically. A quick sweep of the field showed that nearly half of their fighting force was gone!

“Come to Bunkuko. We’ll get together. Have a big raid.” The ranger growled as he moved back into cover to reload his weapon. Of course they were losing. Most of the people here were under leveled, they had no information on this boss prior, and their deputy wasn’t exactly coming up with a strategy. As he ripped the depleted battery pack from his rifle, he began questioning why none of the captains had bothered to show. Was this fight truly beneath them? Or had they realized even they couldn’t defeat this foe? No matter the answer it would have been preferable for them to have at least said something. The more he realized the futility of the situation, the more his frustrations continued to build. His hands began to tremble as he loaded the fresh battery pack into his rifle. He had to calm down. A sniper without a steady aim is practically useless. Knowing his position wasn’t compromised, Royal decided to take a moment to clear his head. They had to come up with something before they got wiped.

”Okay. Everything he does is triggered in someway making his attack pattern pretty simple, but his endurance allows for him to be predictable. Even when we hit him with all we got it does almost nothing, yet he can frag us with a single hit. If only we could redirect that power at him… Hang on.

“Hey, Saff!” Royal called out to the deputy over the team chat. With an idea in his head a renewed focus put the sniper right back in the game. Simultaneously he leaned out of cover to take out the drones as instructed while running his idea passed her. “Do you think there’s a way we can use this guy’s aggro against him? Maybe get him to call an orbital strike on himself or trigger a drone to blind him? Two on South side.” With of pull of the trigger he the drones he had just called out to pieces.

“It’s gotta be worth a shot, right? I mean what’s the worst that could happen? We die faster? Two going to healer.” Royal let off another shot bringing down another pair of black drone as it attempted to ambush one of the few healers left.

"New bosses, new enemies, if only I had the time to catalog them...!" Pestilent Emerald ran through the "battlefield" with her drone taking full advantage of it's speed in the actual fight, dodging quick around the not-very abundant walls of the area. Some places had some decent cover, others didn't, but the flashing buffs on Pestilent Emerald's HUD kept her feeling pretty confident in her abilities. Her drone's fumes were ticking onto both the boss and his drones alike, meaning the Plagued debuff was in full swing. The boss didn't seem to take much damage from the status, but the drones were all taking hits over and over, some of them busting while the damage was converted into a shield for P.E.. She would've targeted a blade user, but as it stood they weren't really easily able to get close. At least right now P.E. could move to a better location before retargeting.

"Yoohoo! Fellow drone user eh? I've got a lovely piece of cover if you wanna talk while our drones do stuff."

"Uhh... sure...?" Pestilent said as she darted over to the cover with this... oddly dressed individual. The outfit was definitely part of your branding, but this outfit was... odd. It wasn't at all something you'd expect someone to wear on a battlefield, except for maybe one of those weird anime. Ah well, this wouldn't be for long, Pestilent hoped. She ducked back behind the ruined postal office walls as she saw something pop up on her HUD.

>Unfinished Agony cooldown reset.

Good. She could restart the debuff timers on the boss.

"H-hello! I'm not sure I've met you before. New player to High Ground?" Pestilent asked as she stayed down behind cover. She extended a hand to the new player with a smile under her mask, though since the player probably couldn't see that, she took her other hand and drew herself a smile with a finger. "Pestilent Emerald, Deputy of the Golden Guardians. You?"

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Saffron listened intently when someone called out her name, her eyes narrowing as she considered the options presented. It chafed at her pride to listen to a complete newbie, but she was also smart enough to know that she wasn't all that smart, it was usually the captain who came up with the big raid strategies. "I don't know if blinding it would work, we don't even know what it does that kills us so fast when we do get blinded by the drones. If one of us could hide from the flashbang and see what exactly its attack is then maybe we could use it against it, but that's gonna have to wait for the next time it spawns, we need more manpower." She licked her lips as she cranked up her fire rate when the target was marked, grimacing as no progress was made. The boss was still standing strong at 74 percent of it's health, and it looked like it was about to send out another wave of drones.

"But getting him to strike himself is worth a shot right now. All units focus on drones, I'm drawing aggro!" It made the most sense in the end, she had the most health and was the highest level in the raid, she had the best chance of surviving a direct strike from the boss should this plan not work. As everyone moved to focus on the second wave of drones, Saffron pulled the pin from a grenade and let loose, creating a fire field around the boss while focusing all her firepower onto it. The Champion's gaze turned to her with little fanfare, he simply pointed his sword at her and whispered one word.



"You first jerk!" She sprinted for him as fast as she could, only just managing to get in his face just as she was target confirmed. The boss and deputy were engulfed in a stream of blinding blue light, each drone stopping and turning towards their master as the attack finished. What was left was a barely standing Saffron and a slightly scuffed Champion, his sword raised high into the air in an attempt to block his own attack. The ground around the two was cracked and shifted like a earthquake had hit just the area around them, the ground the two stood on staying pristine despite the massive orbital strike.

"...hm. I suppose I was a bit thirsty after all that hard work. Thank you for that."

It was only thanks to Pestilent Emerald's shield that Saffron survived the next attack, a simple auto attack that dropped her into the double digits of hp as the Champion cleaved across her chest. "I'm retreating, draw aggro again!" She nearly tripped over some of the virtual rocks as she ran back into cover, all the drones converging on the Champion as everyone began to open fire on it to protect their raid leader. "Ok, I think that did something. I'll need to look at the vod later, but I think we've moved it into a new phase. Good work newbie." Standing at 65 percent of it's hp now, the drones swirled around the boss in an attempt to block as much fire as possible, turning the fight into a shooting gallery as players tried to hit the gaps in between drones. Meanwhile the drones were definitely firing back now, a veritable storm of blue lasers erupting from the tornado of drones.

"Black Cat, rando on team Cobalt." Black Cat eagerly took the hand and shook it, a big grin plainly visible on his face. His other hand gave a wry two fingered salute.

"And yup, I'm super new! Say do you know how like, the XP/loot drops from this thing, work?" Black Cat glanced at his feed from his drone, setting it to hide in cover and just charge up the nearest person's gun. With the storm of fire coming from the drones, Black Cat didn't trust his algorithm to keep it safe. And so it happened to be charging up Royal Ranger by chance.

"Like, how do they measure contribution in a big fight like this? Damage? Presence? Do I need to be worried about your DoT getting the last proc of damage, or some Red guy running and grabbing all the loot once it drops? Do I need to still be alive when he dies to get XP? This is my first 'boss' fight." Black Cat pulled out a snack bar from somewhere that clearly didn't hold it in the AR game, slowly unwrapping it.

"Huh, did all the drones link up to form a physical wall to block shots? Wouldn't that make them really vulnerable to explosives and other AoE shit? But everybody's trying to shoot between them. I guess maybe they've got blast DR or something." Black Cat peeks at the actual fight again, brow furrowing. But ultimately he seems to come to the conclusion that everyone else must know something he doesn't and shrugs nonchalantly, before nomming down on the snack bar. As it wasn't an AR item, it wouldn't do anything, other than quench Black Cat's real world hunger.

"Wait... Shit, the Golden Guys are the roleplayers right? Sorry for breaking your immersion." A sudden realization dawns upon Black Cat and he quickly apologizes.

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Royal watched everything from the scope of his rifle. He was a bit surprised Saffron had not only been willing to listen to him, but also be the one to attempt the incredibly risky plan. As the dust cleared and Saffron escaped with what little health she still had, Royal couldn’t help but admire the tenacity for the deputy who was still all in on this fight. Not to mention dropping the boss nearly 10 percent in one hit was a huge confidence boost.

“Hey thanks. But, uh, could you not call me ‘newbie’?” The sniper requested in response to Saffron’s compliment. While he was aware the gunner had four levels on him, he still felt he had played enough of this game to not be considered an FNG.

Now onto a phase they hadn’t yet reached, the drones were no longer flying around sporadically and instead were locked into one area. With all shots coming from a single point of origin, it made them easier to track despite the number of lasers. This would allow the player to move a bit more as long as they still kept to cover. It was an opportunity they needed to take advantage of before the boss sent them out again.

“Any healers nearby, focus on Saffron. We need her back at full hp as soon as we can. Everyone else, let’s try and blast a hole in that drone defense but keep a few alive. I get the feeling that killing all of them will trigger another nova attack or worse.” Royal instructed over the team chat. Though he knew he carried little authority in rank, he figured someone needed to be trying to keep order in the chaos. Besides, they had just seen how his plan had worked so far. Maybe that would be enough to get the others to trust him.

Keeping his laser sight trained on The Champion, Royal attempted to find the largest gap in the drone shield. One that would allow him to mark The Champion before firing his now fully charged shot.

"Ok, I'm bored now and it doesn't seem like those tryhards are any closer to get the job done," Thea said as she switched off Gundanko's stream and stretched her muscles before stepping on the combat zone. "If you want something well done..." she said to herself as she walked through the chaotic warzone while eyeing the boss and sighing at how the kids around here treated this like a matter of life and death.

"Hey, why don't you try that on someone who can take a punch instead of those wet noodles, Overgrown Smurf!" Thea shouted before lobbing a concussion grenade at the boss, immediately drawing all of its attention to herself. "And you, bunch of tryhards, get done with this already so that I can shoot you down. I'm going to die of boredom if I have to wait any longer," she said to the other players, especially Saffron, while avoiding attacks from the boss with ease after having memorized all of its attack patterns while watching the stream.

Psych Gudanko’s drone zipped and hovered away from the line of fire, making sure to get only the best angles and most dynamic of shots. After all, the focus was purely on the other players who competed, but her commentary was welcome too. That logic dictated she didn’t shut up for a single moment. Her drone spewed out her voice loud and clear with the riveting commentary. Judging by all the messages she was getting for the livestream, it was appreciated.

“And there goes another one down!” she said when the sniper near Black Cat got himself clonked in the head. “But wait, there’s the Blue Deputy going in for a stunning maneuver and-oh no, the boss doesn’t give a shit at all! Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a real lady killer out here!” True to her word, the boss sent forth another wave of drones before a great digital light from the sky beamed down to engulf both the boss and Saffron Star. “Woah, woaahaah!”

Gudanko’s drone swiveled further away from the light show, the power of the beam nearly drawing it into the direct conflict. “Our valiant players have survived another round, but for how long? And how much violence will they spread on the pavement, ahah!” The drone was still trained on the frontlines before suddenly turning around and flying over towards a certain duo.

“It looks like even in these pestilent times, love blooms on the battlefield. How cutsey, how sweet, how…uncalled for. But the people love that lovey shit so keep on going!” Evidently, her drone was pointed at Black Cat and Pestilent Emerald, the Yellow Deputy. “The votes are in and we’ve already got a runner-up for best ship in the game! The crowd wants a cheer and a kiss!”

Whether or not there were actual requests for one or Gudanko just wanted spicy footage was hard to tell, but it was probably the latter. Her drone was focused only by the whims of its driver and as soon as something juicier propped up, it hurled itself in that direction. This time it was trained on Graphite Daze, the player drawing all aggro from the boss on her.

“And in a bold declaration only to be expected by the Scarlet Scourgers, Graphite Daze makes a badass statement! All three colored Deputies are on the field, but can they survive? Ahaha!” Gudanko’s voice screeched, camera drone right in Graphite Daze’s face.

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"Uh, actually, I'm one of the more knowledgeable players on the mechanics of this game. I've spent hours writing things down about how the drops and EXP sharing work, though even that seems to scratch the surface." Pestilent explained as she peeked over the cover to watch her drone. Good, still up and running with good health. It might not last super long against things, but as long as it kept up with it's status inflicting then Pestilent should be alright.

"'scuze me one second..." Pestilent asked as she flicked on her channels to all teams. Due to her connections with every other guild leader, she could

“Any healers nearby, focus on Saffron. We need her back at full hp as soon as we can. Everyone else, let’s try and blast a hole in that drone defense but keep a few alive. I get the feeling that killing all of them will trigger another nova attack or worse.”

"P.E. here. Not a healer, but I'll give her a good amount of shield so the healers can heal unfazed." Pestilent explained before she retargeted her drone's shielding potential onto Saffron completely. All she could do then was let the healers work, though she figured that maybe going towards the big wall of drones was a good idea. Her drone flew over there with unwaivering speed before it shimmered a sickly green color, a wave of energy being cast out at every hostile drone around it as well as the Raid Boss itself.

>Unfinished Agony used. Recharging...

"Sorry, was micromanaging," Pestilent turned back to Black Cat to provide some explanations. "I haven't worked out the specifics for Raid Bosses yet, since they're semi-rare and I'm normally keeping my faction in line, but from what I understand it's both a Faction-based Contribution and an Individual Contribution to gauge how much XP and what kind of drops you get. The Faction that does the most work through support and damage gets a big bonus to XP, while your individual contributions to the fight earn you a solid amount of XP as well. Same goes for drops." She explained, her tone almost like she had explained this a hundred times before, though she might've actually done that. "You will probably want to get away from the fight after it's over, though. Red players do like to kill newbies off to steal their loot at the end of a big battle..."

"And you, bunch of tryhards, get done with this already so that I can shoot you down. I'm going to die of boredom if I have to wait any longer,"

"... like her. Graphite's notorious for being that guy." Pestilent commented. She was blunt about it, and really didn't care if Graphite was listening. Graphite had to know that part of the reason this boss was going down was the fact that everyone's status effects just got reset by Pestilent, so killing her would just be a hindrance.

Pestilent's eyebrow rose at the mention of breaking immersion. "I'm not much into the roleplaying, actually. I only do that so the others fall in line. You'd be surprised how many pe-"

“It looks like even in these pestilent times, love blooms on the battlefield. How cutsey, how sweet, how…uncalled for. But the people love that lovey shit so keep on going!” Evidently, her drone was pointed at Black Cat and Pestilent Emerald, the Yellow Deputy. “The votes are in and we’re already got a runner-up for best ship in the game! The crowd wants a cheer and a kiss!”

"Bite me, Gudanko!" she shouted. The nerve of some people...

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With healers focused on Saffron she would be up and at it again soon, but during that time people were dropping left and right as nobody could take the aggro that she could. Up until Graphite showed up that is. While her sharp words drew little attention from the Champion, the concussion grenade designed to grab it's attention certainly did as several of it's drones were blasted apart. This was also Ranger's opportunity to mark the Champion, as there was now a very large opening exposing the boss. These precious few moments were critical, as everyone began to open fire on the Champion while it had it's focus turned on Graphite. From 65 percent to 60 within ten seconds, it seems the boss actually staggered for a brief moment under a particularly powerful sniper shot from Royal Ranger.

And Graphite was avoiding damage like a pro, her skills from PvP translating surprisingly well to the PvE environment. "**** off Graphite!" And Saffron was back up finally, unloading onto the boss with Incendiary grenades and all the firepower she could muster in an attempt to outdamage Graphite. From 60 to 55, the boss was dropping health much faster than it had been in the prior phase, the drones scrambling to try and fill the holes that the grenades were opening, until suddenly they scattered in all directions again, leaving the boss wide open.





Just like that, everyone had simply run out of time. A common mechanic in MMOs, the enrage was designed to give a set time limit for raids and to add a sense of urgency to the fight. Without the enrage, healers would simply be able to infinitely heal while tanks took all the aggro and damage from the boss, making it's defeat an inevitability. Saffron raged over the team chat, screaming bleeped obscenities as she stomped away to who knows where. She would probably calm down later and message everyone in the guild, giving everyone a job well done and some tips on what they had done right and wrong.

What was much more intriguing however, was the single email everyone who had participated had received.

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Well that was quite the light show huh? I figure now is as good a time as any now that you've worked up a sweat, so I wanted to announce the opening of the brand new bar/hangout spot in HGO, the Sixth Chamber! Come on in for drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), food, and a place to hang out with friends while chatting about the total ass whupping you just received from that boss! You can find us at the corner of 6th and Blanco, we have the big impressive display out front that shows a revolver firing a bullet! It's super cool! And remember, the fight ain't over till the Sixth Chamber is empty!

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And just like that the tides had turned. Though they had suffered some casualties due to Saffron taking cover, it was intervention from the most unlikely of sources that they at last made their push. With Graphite Daze providing artillery fire and sharing aggro with Saffron, Royal and the rest of the DPS could focus completely on the Champion. And thanks to the Scarlet Deputy, Royal finally found the window he was looking for.

“Eat this Xeno scum!” Royal muttered before pulling the trigger on his rifle and nailing his charged shot directly into the Champion’s temple.

Watching the Champions health drop an entire percent or two from one shot relit the Cobalt marksman’s spark. He and everyone else unloaded mag after mag determined to bring thing boss down. Upon reaching 55 percent, the drones flew out once more. The Ranger mistook this to mean they had reached another phase and began following the drones flight path in an attempt to predict their attack trajectory. Once he saw the drones practically killing themselves and the Unival ascend to the skies, his heart dropped. The vice like grip he had on his weapons released and the virtual rifle crashed to the ground as he was absorbed by the burning light.

In an instant, the world faded back into view. However, the construction site that Royal had been using as cover was now a basic playground. The damage done by the massive battle was erased and everything in view was marred by a heavy green hue. Xander Aggressively pulled verdant tinted goggles from his eyes and pushed them down, leaving them dangling around his neck. Inwardly he shared the same feelings the Crusader’s Deputy vocalized over the chat. Yeah, thanks for the help Graphite. Really wish you and the rest of the Scourgers had stepped up ten minutes ago.

Whatever. It was over. Nothing he could do now but move on. Once Saffron’s tirade had concluded, Xander gave a quick “GG” and thanked everyone for trying. Logging out of the chat himself, Xander pulled out his phone to see what other events were going on in the area.

The first thing that caught his attention was the new email in his inbox. An HGO themed bar? Heh, cool, but no thanks. Xander swiped the message away. He wasn’t looking to socialize, this sniper was ready to get back to the hunt. Pulling up the official HGO event map, he quickly scanned all the main park hubs. No other raids going on, eh? Not surprising. The Devs probably wanted every available player to try the new raid; wouldn’t want anything else distracting them.

Okay how about the dungeons? He could run a few scenarios before turning in. Squad mission, squad mission, squad mission, solo mission: required level 5… On second thought, maybe he could use a break. Xander closed out the app and reopened his email. 6th and Blanco wasn’t too far. Who knows? Maybe there was a cosmetic reward for going to this place opening night. Clicking the power on his phone, Xanded slipped the device into his pocket and headed off to The Sixth Chamber.

"Woah! Remind me to never help you guys in your lame-o boss fights if you aren't even gonna be able to kill it. Especially you, Saffron, you virgin," Thea said as she sent a voicemail to the to the other delegates over their HGO app. It was then that she noticed a notification showing a new message on her inbox.

"Pfft, as if..." Was all she said to herself before deleting it as soon as she saw the name of the sender, not even caring to read the message.

"God, I really could use a milkshake now. I guess there's only one thing I can do, then," she said to herself as she left the park behind, going to her favorite place in the city. "Maybe I can kick some noobs ass on the way there? I sure could use some stress relief."

“Aww man, it’s over? You guys totally sucks,” Gudanko’s voice boomed out from her drone. It was the last thing she’d be able to say before the holograms dissipated and left Bunkuko District back to its normal structure. As always, Gudanko was off somewhere else, drone having made the distance and coverage for her. She, like everyone else, received the HGO email about a new hangout spot. With inhuman speed, the email was already forwarded and spammed over her social media, spreading the news and getting as much ground covered about the Sixth Chamber before anyone else could.

The rest of Neo Miso was unaffected by the strife and perseverance of its gamers but the ones who’d hovered around Bunkuko District to watch the light show started to disperse. The entertainment was over and that meant they were back to their nightly activities and whatever else the carefree citizens did in their time. Every player in the area though seemed eager to try out this newfound Hub area and it wasn’t very long before the Sixth Chamber became inevitably crowded by the city’s youth alike. Players of all Factions were allowed so long as no fights broke out.

Unknown to anyone, there was a second announcement planned for tonight by the HGO Devs. Around half an hour after the Sixth Chamber email, a new one took up people’s inboxes. Attached was a video clip that looked very much like a trailer for some old-fashioned shooter only instead of players, the people showed looked undead and deteriorated. Naturally, the dark imagery caught the attention of those who watched and at the end of it, flashing in bright colors was, New Game Mode Coming Soon! Those who actually read the email would see what the bustle was about; as well as see it was already trending on Gudanko's social media.

"Oh brother." Pestilent sighed as she read her emails. Another game mode that Pestilent would no-doubt be writing a guide for soon. Maybe the devs would be kind and send her a beta-version of the survival mode so she could get a jump start on that. Regardless, the other email was her main motivation for the night. A new bar opening for HGO players? What, did that mean a physical bar was open for all patrons, but it mainly catered to a HGO demographic? Weird, but okay. Still, a new bar opening was something for Pestilent to write a guide about, though it might just be a short 'this drink gives these boosts' guide. Easy money.

She kept her face obscured by a black hoodie as she made her way through the city towards the Sixth Chamber, keeping her player handle hidden from view by staying logged out. She wasn't gonna get recognized if she was logged out, which was good. Last thing she needed was a Golden Guardian noob coming up to her and asking her for a date in their roleplay character. That wa,s for sure, not one of Pestilent's scenes. Roleplaying was weird.

"Zombies, huh? Now we are talking," Thea said to herself as she read the newest news while on her wait to a certain shop that was trending on the social networks right now, for a reason that she was completely unaware of. It had to be a good place if so many people were talking about it, right?

"Anyway, finally a mode that's worth killing some time on. Instead of those lame-o 'bosses'," she thought as she arrived at the place and got a seat at the bar before asking for a strawberry milkshake and a pizza. If this place was worth all this commotion, it had to have a good pizza and shakes, right?

Her excitement was echoed by a majority of the Scourgers' player base. After all, zombies were supposed to be humans that got back from their graves. This would make them weak to good old hot lead, and resistant to kiddy toys like lasers. Finally, something that was going to be fun to deal with for the red players.

---

"Wait, you named your weapon?" A dark blue haired girl asked quizzically raising an eyebrow. For the moment she had leaned against the back wall of the ever crowding bar and idly stirred her drink with the decorative straw it was served with.

"Well yeah.” Xander replied casually to the girls inquiry, “Doesn’t everyone?"

“Not really.” She said with a shrug and in a very condescending tone.

“Oh…” Was all the sniper could muster before his hand reached up and began scratching the back of his neck. “Not even drone users?”

“Nope.” The girl said accompanied with an eye roll.

“I see.” The boy broke eye contact with the girl as his pale face began to turn a light pick hue.

“You should probably check with someone in the Gold guild, they’re more into stuff like that. In fact, I’ll let you do that now.” The girl pushed herself from the wall and began walking to another corner of the bar

“Oh. Okay. Well it was nice chatting with you.” Xander managed to say before letting out a defeated sigh. “That’s what, strike four tonight?” He said into his near empty glass of iced tea. “This is why you stick to dungeons, Xander. Much easier to let your aim do the talking.”

Finishing off his drink, he pushed through the crowd and made his way back to the bar for a refill. After setting his glass down to be taken by one of the staff, he pulled out his phone to check the news. Huh, new zombie horde mode? He could get behind that. Might finally be a way for Crusader and Scourger members to play together. Not to mention Pestilent Emerald and some of the other Guardians would want to get started on a walkthrough or guide as soon as they could.

Once he was caught up he slid his phone back into his pocket just in time to see none other than the Scourger deputy herself sit down and order a meal. In an instant a hundred ideas popped into Xander’s mind. A sarcastic quip, a meanspirited comment, hell even the thought of pouring that strawberry shake over her scummy head crossed by. After all her and the rest of the Scourgers just sat there during that raid yet had the audacity to start complaining when it failed. In the end his better judgment won out and he decided to let it go. She was the only one to actually try and help after all. Speaking of, why did she even try and help?

“Hey. Graphite, right?” He said turning to face the scarlet player with one arm propped against the counter. “Can I ask something? What was the point of joining us at the end of that raid? You must have known we weren’t doing too hot. You could have just had the rest of your guild move in and wipe us out for whatever exp you could.”

The small fairy nodded methodically, clearly disinterested by whatever sob story Saffron was talking about now. "And- and then that fucking $#&*$ Graphite showed up and started making fun of everyone! Even though she never even does raid stuff, all she does is PvP! Who the $#!& does she think she is, talking down to me about $#$# she doesn't know nothing about!" She yelled before taking another shot of alcohol.

"Yep, you sure said it." The fairy looked bored out of her mind as Henry was serving someone else. Why were they even in this backwater world?

"So you know what I said to her!? I said $#$@ you Graphite!" Another shot down the hatch. Saffron absolutely loved this new bar, the theme was so unique! Guns mounted all over the wall, yet fairies were taking her order and a guy who looked like a demon was pouring drinks! Wild! And the animatronic skeleton wearing a trenchcoat in the corner was... kinda weird actually but she liked how it's eyes lit up occasionally and it said a witty one liner to nobody.

How Saffron was being censored outside the game was beyond anyone's guess, but give HGO technology, it wasn't too far to imagine. More than likely it was by some control of the player's avatar interface that made the set up more realistic than it should have been; just like the strange devil man hologram that looked suspiciously like the Raid Boss that got done kicking people's teeth in. Regardless, no one really batted an eye or questioned the authenticity of their waiters when the matter of their drinks coming on time was more important. Between the beverages and the new HGO update involving zombies, people were quite ecstatic; or in Graphite's case, too involved in their own conversations to care. If Jin had any sense, she might have realized Thea was closer than she thought anyway, probably hearing her conversation over the loud music. Maybe.

"Um, m'am? I think that's enough drinks for you," said what was probably the only real server in the entire bar. To make this point known, she slowly tried to idle away Jin's now empty glass away from her reach. "You're also discouraging people from getting to the bar," she added, noting a semi-line forming behind the Blue Team's Deputy, none of them wanting to tell her to move but the intent was clear in their annoyed expressions. They also weren't drunk.

"No no I'm fine! Everything is fiiiiine!" Jin called out to the server, turning to her with a drunken grin. She blinked twice as she saw the line. "...why are you all standing behind me?" Were all the bar stools filled? Out of the corner of her eye she saw her glass moving away from her, so she leaned over to try and grab it before it slid away. She then proceeded to slide out of her chair and directly onto the ground, her sense of balance absolutely fucked by how hammered she was. "Whoa, who took my chair?" Jin got up shakily, propping herself up on the server so she didn't fall over again. "Oh hey there cutie. I didn't see you there. I'm Jin, what's your name?" She leered at the girl, squinting to try and read her nametag. Nope, shit was way too blurry to read. "You should clean that thing up, it's suuuuuuuper blurry." She giggled, almost stumbling over again.

"Hisako," the server said dryly, instantly regretting giving this drunkard her name. With literally all of the other waitresses being the size of her thumb, it was up to the one living girl to assist in carting out a drunken patron. She swiftly scooted the thankfully not shattered cup out of the Deputy's grip, moving aside as the waiting customers hurried themselves to take Jin's place. "Hey boss, can we get some help here?" Then she rolled her eyes and sighed. Here she was, asking a hologram like it was her boss-and why the hell was her hologram a boss? How did payment even work when there was no other breathing employees? Whatever. "Alright, come on you," she said, trying to get Jin back to her feet on her own.

"Hey there Hisako, it's super nice to meet you!" Jin cheered, following the server out with no objections. Well, she did try to get her glass back but she didn't try that hard. "I'm Jin, it's so cool to meet you! Did I say that already?" They passed by the skeleton just as it said something, she couldn't hear what but she knew it was funny so she laughed super hard. "Hey, where are we going Hisako?" Jin asked as she started to slow down, wondering just why they were walking towards the exit. Was that the exit? "Yeah boss, we need some help! You know, you look just like that $#%&#@ who beat everyone up earlier! You should fix that." Henry rolled his eyes and resumed cleaning another glass, content to let the Server believe it was just drones and automated server robots that poured the drinks.

"Don't worry Hisako, you got this!" What an advanced AI, it knew her name and responded realistically to her question.

Realistically was more like annoyingly, but Hisako didn't expect much help on her first night on the job. As she helped drag Jin to the exit, she couldn't help but notice the mix of people they'd struck out tonight. It was no wonder the place was crowded on its opening night and an assortment of players were all joined. Some of them still wore their simulated avatars, probably to impress and pick up dates. Others were logged out, just like the Deputy she was lugging around. Keeping in another sigh, she passed by a table of one still dressed in their avatar and couldn't help but think he looked like the bar's personal skeleton prop. Actually, it might have been another prop the bar owned for all she knew on this first night. Shrugging, she continued dragging Jin.

Jin couldn't help but notice they were heading to the exit, which could really only mean one thing. "Ohhh, you wanna go home. Girl, you should've just said so! I'd be happy to keep you some company for a while." She leered, trying to look seductive but only looking like an even dumber drunk than she was. "I'll cover the cab, don't even worry about it. Man Hisako, it's been so long since someone came on to me that I forgot what it was like!" She laughed, patting her on the back a little too hard as they finally made it outside. "H-hey Hisako, could you pull out my phone? It's in my pocket, I can't get it out." She rubbed her eyes with her free hand, why was everything so blurry? Was her AR chip bugging out or something? Should go look at that in the morning.

"Fine, I guess." Employees were always told the customer was always right and this was no different for Hisako, unfortunately. That didn't mean she had to be happy about it. Reaching into Jin's pocket and fetching her phone, she swiftly dialed a number for a cab, no intention of actually following the girl. As she did so, she was too distracted to note the pair of eyes watching both girls. Neither would Jin, being in her deluded and drunken state. Once all was said and done, she handed the phone back to Jin, a slight frown on her features. "Well, if that's all then. Good night, m'am," she said before turning back to the bar.

The cab came fast, it was a busy night and they were all over the city prowling for their fare. The driver helped Jin in, clearly used to helping out drunks, and she buckled her seatbelt. It took a few tries, but it totally happened. "W-wait, hold on." She hit the button to make the window go up a few times before she finally hit the down button, the glass rolling down so she could stick her head out the window. "Later Hisako! I'll see you tomorrow-" Her face turned green as she threw up all over the sidewalk. The cab pulled away into the night, carrying Jin home where she could pass out in her bed reeking of alcohol.